A popular Co Tyrone high street business is celebrating 150 years of its existence this week in what is a significant feat as a family-run operation.
Bogue’s Jewellers on Market Street in Omagh first opened as a pawnbrokers in Belfast in the 1870s, and a century and a half later the Bogue family are very much a fixture in the town’s business community.
For the last fifty years Patrick Bogue has been the man at the helm of the business where many have picked up their special rings and jewellery for engagements, weddings and special occasions.
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His great grandfather first set up the shop in Belfast before it was destroyed during World War Two, with his father moving to Co Tyrone shortly after.
“The business was up and running from slightly before 1870,” Patrick told Belfast Live.
“They leased a premises in Great Patrick Street in Belfast in the early part of the 20th century and it became the headquarters for the different shops we had.
“The business was run by my great grandfather and his cousin. In 1941 the Luftwaffe came to town and the shop was destroyed.
“That left my father who was there at the time out of a job, so he joined the civil service and was posted to Omagh.
“When he came to Omagh he got involved in the local drama society and ran that very successfully for many years.
“I came to join the business in 1974 and have been here ever since, it’s nearly time I wasn’t here!”
Bogues also has another shop in Enniskillen, and had shops in other areas of Northern Ireland over the years. But Patrick, 70, says the business is now part of the fabric of the Co Tyrone town.
While he may have taken more of a back seat in the management of the shop, Patrick says he still pops in to check in on things.
“I don’t work anything like I used to these days,” Patrick added. “I’m entirely reliant on people who are much better than I am.
“This business has changed quite a bit since I came here first, but I do think we are part and parcel of Omagh and we have played our part in making the town what it is today.”
Of the many changes he has seen both in the business and the town of Omagh throughout the years, Patrick points out that many people are getting married in later years now rather than in their late teens.
However, he said the most devastating change came to the Co Tyrone town in the summer of 1998 when a car bomb planted by the Real IRA killed 29 people and two unborn twins.
Patrick added: “From my own point of view, I didn’t really realise until some years later how much we were affected and I personally was affected by it.
“There’s a very deep effect because I knew so many of the people who were killed that day. We didn’t suffer anywhere near as badly as that but all the same, it made its mark.
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“I was lucky in that I had a shop in Armagh at the time and I had gone there to interview someone, but when I got the call to come back it was like a war scene. It’s hard to talk about it even now.
“I had spoken to one of the people killed that day that morning just before I went to Armagh.
“We don’t ever want to go back there, the town has recovered well now and it’s great to see that.”
Fast forward to the present day, and Patrick says he is unsure what the long-term future holds for the business, but he doesn’t plan to go anywhere, any time soon.
“I think the business will still be going in the next ten years. Further than that it’s hard to see because the nature of retail has changed so much.
“That’s a challenge all on its own. I’d certainly say there is still a need for it and I would like to see this establishment serve that need for years to come.”
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